Tag: lafilmfest

LA Film Fest 2015 Review: VICTORIA, A Poem In Action

"You just had to be there" In a post-FOMO (fear of missing out) age this phrase is tantamount to death. "You just had to be there." It's what I said to ScreenAnarchy Editor Ben Umstead as we walked out of...

LA Film Fest 2015 Review: TOO LATE A Confident, Stylish Debut

There is a classic Hollywood feel that prevails throughout Dennis Hauck's debut feature Too Late. Namely this is due to the fact that it's shot on good old 35MM film -- a feat almost never attempted in today's world of...

LA Film Fest 2014 Review: LAKE LOS ANGELES, Of Loneliness And Limbo In America

Director Mike Ott wraps up his trilogy of films set in the Antelope Valley of Southern California with this, his beguiling fourth feature, Lake Los Angeles. Getting a lot of mileage out of a simple, near fairy tale like story,...

LA Film Fest 2014 Review: Cross-Cultural Mystery MAN FROM RENO Both Delivers And Disappoints

Touted as a thriller leading up to its world premiere last Sunday at the LA Film Fest, Dave Boyle's fifth feature is, in many ways both refreshing and frustrating, far less a typical pulse pounding number, and more a good...

LA Film Fest 2014 Review: UNCERTAIN TERMS, Between Romance And Delusion

We are walking down a serene wooded path. With our back to us is a redheaded girl, her hair in a long, tight braid, her shoulders slumped forward. She's walking through the woods, pondering her very existence: Why is she...

Review: Indie Darling BREAKFAST WITH CURTIS Will Leave You Hungry For More

Seeing Hook for the first time as a child, I remember being enamored with Spielberg's vision of Never Never Land. For days and days after leaving the theater, I was fixated on the idea of living in that magical...

LA Film Fest 2013 Review: GOODBYE WORLD Waves Farewell in Fantastically Entertaining Fashion

Man has always been fascinated with the end of the world but filmmakers seem extra intrigued recently with World War Z, It's A Disaster, This is the End, After Earth, Oblivion, The Fifth Season, and Cloud Atlas all tackling...

LA Film Fest 2013 Review: RAIN is Contemporary Ballet Stripped Bare

It may be hard for a movie like Rain to get noticed. Many documentaries employ the TV formula of souped-up editing techniques (jerky pan of a photograph! brightness filters!), loud rock snippets and old heads reminiscing in order to...

LA Film Fest 2013: CODE BLACK and MOTHER, I LOVE YOU Take Top Jury Prizes, All Awards Announced

LA Film Festival has just about wrapped up its 2013 edition with the festival closing screening of The Way, Way Back coming tonight. The awards were announced today and it was Janis Nords's Latvian drama Mother, I Love You...

LA Film Fest 2013 Review: WINTER IN THE BLOOD Captures The True Western Spirit

Winter in the Blood focuses on a young, alcoholic Blackfoot Indian somewhere in central Montana as he struggles to maintain his sanity while constantly reliving traumatic events from his past. While Chaske Spencer plays the part with an intense and...

LA Film Fest 2013 Review: NOBODY'S DAUGHTER HAEWON And The Endearing Art Of Wandering

I've got a confession to make: Until last night I'd never seen a film by Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo (In Another Country, Woman Is The Future Of Man). So Why was that? My reasons in the past were fleeting, entirely...

LA Film Fest 2013 Review: Mumbai Drama I.D. Can't Establish Credentials

To comment on Indian cinema growing beyond the Bollywood aesthetic that has defined it for so many years would be almost passé at this point. With films like Gangs of Wasseypur crashing onto the scene with great flourishes of...

LA Film Fest 2013 Review: AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS Sure Is Pretty, But It Ain't Quite Divine

As someone who spends a good portion of his days talking and writing about cinema, there comes an interesting moment when certain difficulties as to how to communicate rear their ugly head in either form of discourse. Sometimes it is...

Two Gorgeous New Posters For LAFF Selected Doc TAPIA

A selection of the now-running Los Angeles Film Festival, Eddie Alcazar's Tapia has just released a pair of stellar new posters for the sports documentary.Albuquerque-born boxer Johnny Tapia's life was a maelstrom of turmoil. The glory of his punishing ring...

LA Film Fest 2013: ScreenAnarchy Picks 12 Must-See Films

It's LA Film Fest time with LA's downtown fest kicking off tonight with Pedro Almodovar's I'm So Excited. ScreenAnarchy will be on hand with a small crew to bring you news and reviews from around the fest. You can...

LA Film Fest 2013: ScreenAnarchy Previews Downtown's Big Fest

It's LA Film Fest time once again with downtown's big fest kicking off tomorrow. Centered around LA Live's Regal Cinemas, this year's fest will again be an oasis of indie cinema in the epicenter of megaplex mayhem. We'll be...

LA Film Fest Exclusive: First Trailer & Poster for Indie Charmer FOREV

The LA Film Fest is coming to town -- kicking off this Thursday in Downtown LA. To get you all psyched up, we've got an exclusive trailer and poster debut for you here at ScreenAnarchy for one of the narrative...